Visioni sinfoniche. Ildegarda di Bingen tra suoni e parole

Symphonic Visions. Hildegard of Bingen between Sounds and Words offers a multifaceted exploration of the visionary, musical, and symbolic language of Hildegard of Bingen, the twelfth-century Benedictine nun, mystic, and intellectual. Structured in five thematic sections, the volume examines the deep interrelation between auditory and visual experience in the transmission of spiritual and theological knowledge, combining historical analysis, linguistic inquiry, and aesthetic-affective reflection.\r\nThe first section introduces Hildegard’s self-representation as paupercula feminea forma, situating her within the context of female monasticism and outlining the theological and anthropological framework of her thought. The second section investigates the synesthetic nature of Hildegard’s mode of communication, in which vision and audition converge into an integrated expressive form, further illuminated by insights from computational linguistics.\r\nThe third section focuses on the relationship between sound and word, probing the genesis of the verbum and the symbolic function of voice within Hildegard’s cosmology and anthropology. The fourth section elaborates the concept of symphonia as a harmonic principle that unites cosmos, body, and soul—a music that reflects the correspondence between creation and Creator, becoming a medium of praise, vision, and contemplation.\r\nFinally, the last section explores the spiritual and emotional dimensions of listening, highlighting the anagogical function of music and chant in the soul’s inner journey. Silence, joy, and praise emerge as key elements of an affective language that engages the fullness of human experience.\r\nIntended for scholars, educators, and readers interested in medieval mysticism, the philosophy of language, symbolic theology, and monastic spirituality, this volume offers an original contribution to the understanding of Hildegard’s unique intellectual synthesis at the intersection of word, sound, and vision.